BROWSING: DTV
NAB says FCC has to mandate 'voluntary' spectrum auctions to meet broadband goal
The National Association of Broadcasters released an analysis that criticized the Federal Communicaitons Commission's National Broadband Plan, noting that 40% of full-power local TV stations could have to vacate their channels in order for the FCC to reclaim 120 megazhertz of broadcast spectrum.CTIA immediately...
Mobile digital TV looks for audiences in Austin
If your attention span lulls when you wait in line or sit in an office, you may have a good alternative to keep you entertained in mobile digital television (DTV) services.
Mobile DTV allows live programming, including local news, on a growing number of mobile...
Mobile Content Venture adds 12 markets to its end-of-year launch
Mobile Content Venture, a joint venture comprised of 12 large broadcast groups, has added 12 markets to its plans for launch by the end of the years. The new additions brings the groups plan for a national live TV and on-demand video platform to...
Reality Check: Mobile content – what we need to work out for elegant delivery
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.It is clear that consumers with mobile broadband plans have huge pent-up demand for video content. The...
Analyst Angle: CES roundup – bigger isn't better
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.Things tend to be big at the Consumer Electronics Show, the annual gadget-fest held this...
Broadcasters plan mobile TV launch in late 2011
Soon after FLO TV goes dark, a joint venture of a dozen broadcasters plans to launch mobile TV services that will reach about 40% of the U.S. population. Mobile Content Venture announced plans to initially launch two ad-supported channels in 20 markets by late...
OMVC still plugs local as the biggest driver for mobile TV
Five months into a consumer trial in Washington, D.C., the Open Mobile Video Coalition is now releasing more findings from its Mobile DTV service.The trial service, which includes 23 channels of local and national news and entertainment programming, has 350 users on board who...
As AWS-3 and D-Block auctions hang in limbo, Copps’ FCC aims to improve morale
The Federal Communications Commission is unlikely to take major actions on key wireless policies anytime in the near future, as the agency awaits a new Obama-appointed chairman and as acting head Michael Copps remains laser-focused on ensuring a smooth re-set digital TV transition, even...
Digital TV transition to be delayed until June 12: Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility forced to delay 700 MHz buildout plans
Congress approved legislation to postpone the digital TV transition from Feb. 17 to June 12, capping a fiercely-partisan House debate today that forces wireless carriers to wait another four months to get 700 MHz licenses they paid nearly $20 billion to acquire in a...
DTV delay to impact access to 700 MHz licenses: Spectrum tie-up could impact LTE, FLO deployments
The wireless industry suddenly faces a delay of its own, with digital TV legislation likely headed to the White House soon that will force wireless carriers to wait about four months longer to access 700 MHz spectrum licenses purchased for nearly $20 billion from...
DTV delay almost ready for prime time
The Senate approved a digital TV delay bill initially rejected in the House, likely setting the stage for legislation lacking certain concessions requested by wireless and public-safety sectors to be passed and signed into law by President Obama within days.In signing off a second...
Winning ugly
The Democratic-led Congress is about to hand President Obama victories by way of a bill to delay the DTV transition to June 12 and a gargantuan economic recovery package with billions of dollars in broadband grants and tax breaks for companies in wireless and...
DTV delay stymied, for now
While House Republicans managed to initially stifle House approval of a bill to delay the digital TV transition from Feb. 17 to June 12, Democrats who control Congress are pursuing a new strategy likely to result in passage next week of Obama-administration-backed legislation that...
DTV delay likely without wireless, public-safety concessions
Congress is poised to approve legislation postponing the digital TV transition from Feb. 17 to June 12, with the public safety and mobile-phone sectors unable to win many concessions they sought. The Senate last night approved the DTV delay bill after satisfying Republican concerns....
Senate committee exempts public safety from DTV delay, but Qualcomm remains snubbed: MediaFLO launches contingent on DTV switch-over
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said a compromise reached on a bill to delay the digital TV transition to June 12 includes a carve-out for first responders, setting the stage for a floor vote and possibly full congressional passage next week. "This...
Verizon does about-face, voices support for DTV transition delay: June 12 may soon be the new deadline
A digital TV transition postponement appears increasingly inevitable, with the parent company of top mobile-phone carrier Verizon Wireless shifting course to support a limited extension of the mid-February deadline. Verizon Communication Inc.'s move comes shortly after congressional and Obama transition team officials late last...
Opposition hardens over proposal to delay DTV switch: Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility 700 MHz buildouts hang in the balance
Senate Democratic leaders today are scrambling to fast-track passage of a bill that would delay the digital TV transition until June 12, but congressional and industry opposition could make a longer, drawn-out fight more likely.The controversy generated last week by President-elect Barack Obama's request...
The world is looking
Vice President-elect Joe Biden's prophecy has been realized: The new president will indeed confront a crisis of global proportions during his first six month's in office. In fact, the moment of reckoning has already arrived for Barack Obama. It is the DTV transition -...
Timing of DTV delay raises tension between Verizon, AT&T
Congressional Republican and industry opposition are mounting over President-elect Barack Obama's call to delay next-month's digital television transition, with the nation's two largest telecom carriers divided over how Congress should proceed." is freeing broadcast spectrum for firefighters, police officers and other life-savers and also...
Obama’s new FCC chairman to face a range of difficult issues: Analysts: Genachowski to push for open Internet, network neutrality in FCC wireless regulations
President-elect Barack Obama plans this week to nominate former telecom policymaker and tech entrepreneur Julius Genachowski as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, according to knowledgeable sources.Genachowski, a Harvard Law School classmate of Obama's who is a tech adviser on the presidential...
Recessionary ripple effect
While there's much talk in official Washington about including stimulus funding and incentives for broadband deployment (and more recently about setting aside a portion of the package's $775 billion total for a national dual-use 700 MHz network and the troubled DTV transition), it appears...
Public safety wants 700 MHz spectrum excluded from possible DTV delay: Groups want Obama to protect spectrum destined for first responders
Public-safety organizations asked President-elect Barack Obama to exclude spectrum designated for first responders in any plan to delay the transition to digital television next month.The Obama-Biden transition team last week asked congressional leaders to postpone the Feb. 17 DTV cut-over in light of inadequate...
Obama: broadband in every community in America
The incoming administration may move faster than expected to put a tech team in place, given the unsettled state of the Federal Communications Commission and President-elect Obama's desire to leverage broadband, wireless and other technologies to advance top priorities such as economic revitalization, health...
U.S. broadcasters to launch mobile DTV across 22 markets: ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates back the plan
The Open Mobile Video Coalition said it will launch mobile DTV services across 63 stations in 22 markets, covering 35% of U.S. television markets.The group of U.S. broadcasters plans to provide live, local and national over-the-air digital TV services from affiliates of ABC, CBS,...